The island of Hispaniola is the last place in the Caribbean where malaria still exists. Producer Gary Strieker reports on how a new cooperative effort between the Dominican Republic, Haiti and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is trying to eradicate the disease.
Here is the Monday, January 4th, 2010 edition of what’s making news and interesting reads from around the world. Also please note that off to the left there are two widgets with updates on news from Asia and the world in a separate page: Around Asia & Around the World New Feeds.
Japanese PM Hatoyama Wants a More Equal Relationship with the US
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan said Monday he wants to press for more equal ties with the United States. In a televised speech on New Year’s Day, PM Hatoyama said it is important “for both sides to be able to firmly say what needs to be said, and increase the relationship of trust.”
Hatoyama also reiterated his determination to find a mutually acceptable solution to a row with the United States over the relocation of a U.S. Marine base on the southern island of Okinawa within the space of several months. Not only are Okinawans opposed to a plan to move the Futenma base to a different part of the island, but the tiny pacifist Social Democratic Party has threatened to leave Hatoyama’s ruling coalition if the plan goes ahead unchanged. More from Agence France Presse.
Abbas Visits Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh
The President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas will visit with Egyptian Hosni Murbarak on Monday in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on the tip of the Sinai peninsula. It is expected that President Mubarak will encourage the Palestinian leader to restart peace talks with Israel. On Sunday, the Qatar-based news network Al-Jazeera reported that Obama’s administration supported Egypt’s vision for a Middle East peace plan that would include a complete halt of construction in West Bank settlements as well as the release of senior Palestinian officials from Israeli prisons. More this part of story in Haaretz.
The other relevant development is that Egypt and Saudi Arabia have quietly working behind the scenes to effect a reconciliation between the Hamas and Fatah. Hamas and Fatah have been feuding since March 2007 when Hamas took over control of the Gaza Strip. More on the joint Egyptian-Saudi diplomatic effort from Al Jazeera.
Gordon Brown Bets £100 Billion on Wind
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will launch a £100 billion green power revolution when he awards a raft of development contracts to build a new generation of offshore wind farms. The hope is to provide at least a third of the UK’s energy from wind power by 2020. The plan is also critical component of Brown’s plan to cut British carbon emissions. The full story in the Times of London.
US Lifts HIV Travel Ban
The US has lifted a 22-year immigration ban which has stopped anyone with HIV/Aids from entering the country. President Obama had said when he announced the lifting of the ban that such a restriction was not compatible with US plans to be a leader in the fight against the disease. The new rules come into force on Monday and the US plans to host a bi-annual global HIV/Aids summit for the first time in 2012. More from the BBC.
South Korean Firms Win UAE Nuclear Deal
Nuclear Power Daily reports that South Korea won a landmark deal to build four nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates. A South Korea-led consortium beat U.S. and French rivals and clinched a $40 billion deal to build and operate four nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates, in one of the world’s biggest nuclear power contracts, Seoul’s energy and industry ministry said Monday. The deal marks South Korea’s first export of a nuclear power plant and its single largest overseas construction project in terms of value, it said. With the deal, South Korea becomes the world’s sixth exporter of nuclear power plants.
Angola’s State Oil Company Wins Rights to Develop Two Iraqi Oil Fields
Energy Daily reported that Angola’s state oil company, Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangol), had won the rights to develop the Qayara and Najmah fields, which between them contain an estimated 1.66 billion barrels of oil, in Nineveh province. The agreement is a 20-year deal.
It’s a remarkable development when you think of it. Previously, most oil development projects were the province of major oil companies in the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Italy but now Angola, which recently became Africa’s largest oil produce,r is making a bid to become a global player in the energy field. Sonangol is a parastatal firm. Sonangol said the move to drill abroad was part of a strategy to bolster Angola’s global image. The oil company is also eyeing exploration opportunities in Brazil, Ecuador and the tiny African island state of São Tomé and Príncipe.
Northwestern University’s Medill News Service in partnership with the Tribune Newspapers Washington Bureau and the Center for Responsive Politics have released their analysis of the revolving door in the healthcare debate. OpenSecrets’ Revolving Door database tracks anyone whose résumé includes positions of influence in both the private and public sectors and tracks the shuffle of individuals who were former federal employees and then take jobs as lobbyists, corporate consultants and legislative strategists as well as hired guns who then return to work in government helping to craft legislation.
The fact is that a stint on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide often leads to a more lucrative perch in the land of tasseled loafers known as K Street. For example, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has 14 of his former employees now working for the US Chamber of Commerce, Pharmaceutical Research and the National Association of Manufacturers, and Verizon while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has 13 former staffers who now lobby for clients including the US Chamber of Commerce and Pharmaceutical Research. In the healthcare debate, at least 14 former aides to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and at least 13 former aides to Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee served as registered lobbyists lobbying their former bosses and their colleagues.
At least 166 former aides from the nine congressional leadership offices and five committees involved in shaping health overhaul legislation — along with at least 13 former lawmakers — registered to represent at least 338 health care clients since the beginning of last year, according to the analysis.Their health care clients spent $635 million on lobbying over the past two years, the study shows.
The total of insider lobbyists jumps to 278 when non-health-care firms that reported lobbying on health issues are added in, the analysis found.
Part of the lobbying pressure on current members of Congress and staffers comes from the powerful lure of post-congressional job possibilities.
“There’s always a worry they may be thinking about their future employment opportunities when dealing with these issues, particularly with health care, because the stakes are so high and the breadth of the issues — pharmacies, hospitals, doctors,” said Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz.
Lobbyists’ earnings can dwarf congressional salaries, which currently top out at $174,000 annually for lawmakers and $156,000 for aides, though committee staff members can earn slightly more.
In the health care showdown, insider lobbying influence has magnified the clout of corporate interests and helped steer the debate away from a public insurance option, despite many polls indicating majority support from Americans, according to Rutgers University political scientist Ross Baker.
“It imposes a kind of conservative bias on the discussion,” said Baker, himself a former Senate staffer.
Breaking it down by Senate or House Committee, the numbers are eye-opening. Forty-five former staffers of the members of the Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) are now lobbying. Their clients include the Chamber of Commerce, Exxon Mobil, AARP, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers, General Electric, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Verizon, AT&T, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. Thirty-six current lobbyists are veterans of the Senate Finance Committee. They now represent the Chamber of Commerce, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturesrs, General Electric, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Over in the House of Representatives, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has 45 former staffers now working as lobbyists, the Ways and Means Committee 23, and House Education and Labor trails with just 18.
According to the World Health Organization, the H1N1 virus has peaked in much of the northern hemisphere, with substantial declines in the U.S. and Canada. While the disease is still active in the U.S., increases are occurring in central and eastern Europe, and in parts of west, central and south Asia.
An experimental vaccine being tested in Thailand has shown signs of protecting people from infection by the virus that causes AIDS.
US military and Thai health officials announced in Bangkok that for the first time ever, an experimental vaccine prevented infection from the HIV virus. Thai authorities say the treatment given to healthy volunteers cut the number of expected HIV infections by almost a third.
“It is found that the vaccine has 31.2 per cent efficacy in reducing the risk of HIV infection,” Withaya Kaewparadai, the Thai health minister, said.
The world’s largest AIDS vaccine trial included more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand.
It is the first time any HIV vaccine has even partially succeeded in a clinical trial.
Every day, 7,500 people worldwide are newly infected with HIV. Scientists say the study used strains of HIV common in Thailand. Whether such a vaccine would work against strains in the US or Africa is unknown.
Al Jazeera’s Aela Callan reports from Bangkok.
Ida Northover is known fondly in her community as Miss Gene. She is a volunteer community leader battling stigma and discrimination in one of the poorest inner city communities on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica. Miss Genes leadership has proven a successful model for encouraging tolerance and support for people living with HIV.
World Focus correspondent Lisa Biagiotti, producer Micah Fink and director of photography Gabrielle Weiss report on how the Jamaican government is targeting community leaders like Ida Northover to educate people on HIV and change the stigma surrounding the disease.
Jamaica may be on the very of losing its battle against the AIDS epidemic because of deeply entrenched anti-gay attitudes and laws.
Correspondent Lisa Biagiotti, producer Micah Fink and director of photographer Gabrielle Weiss report from the front lines of Jamaicas battle against HIV and AIDS, a war waged in the shadows.
South Africa spends more on healthcare than any other African country. But over half of that is spent treating HIV/Aids.
Overwhelmed and underfunded public hospitals are also struggling to cope with one of the highest tuberclosis rates in the world. While basic care is free in South Africa in public hospitals and clinics, over 80% of South Africans lack health insurance.
Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa reports from Johannesburg on the challenges of making healthcare affordable. More from the National Post:
A lack of leadership has left South Africa’s health system burdened by rampant HIV, poor maternal and child health services, and violent crime, doctors said in The Lancet.
“Although South Africa is considered a middle-income country in terms of its economy, it has health outcomes that are worse than those in many lower income countries,” South African doctors said in the British medical journal.
The journal published a series of articles highlighting the challenges facing South Africa’s health system, which has been transformed into a comprehensive national service 15 years after the end of apartheid.
But the country faces a collision of epidemics including AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as a high level of deadly violence and poor services for mothers and children, the articles said.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi described the country’s the health system as in trouble.
“Both the private and public sectors are in trouble. As government we take responsibility of the mistakes especially with regards to HIV/AIDS where wrong policies were adopted,” he said at a press conference.
“However, some of the problems we have inherited from apartheid and colonialism,” he added.
Motsoaledi met on Monday with a team of international experts, including the articles’ authors, in Johannesburg to discuss ways to battle South Africa’s health challenges, which the articles blamed on weak leadership.
“Failures in leadership and stewardship and weak management have led to inadequate implementation of what are often good policies,” South African researchers said in one article.
Former president Thabo Mbeki for years denied the threat posed by AIDS, questioning whether HIV causes the illness and delaying the rollout of life-prolonging drugs.
Lancet editor Richard Horten said the election of President Jacob Zuma earlier this year offered an opportunity to redress the mistakes of the past.
“The catastrophic failure of previous leadership to address certain health issues has broken the trust of the South Africa public and betrayed the trust of the international medical community,” he said.
The articles highlighted gaping differences in health care among South Africa’s provinces, pointing to the lack of national coordination.
In the Western Cape, home to Cape Town, 80% of tuberculosis cases were cured in 2007. In KwaZulu-Natal, where the port city of Durban is located, the rate was as low as 40%. Poor mother and child services mean South Africa was among just 12 nations that saw child mortality increase since 1990, the journal said.
AIDS remains the biggest challenge to South Africa’s health system, with 5.5 million people living with HIV — about 17% of the world total.
But many people with HIV also suffer from tuberculosis, while ailments like obesity, heart disease, substance abuse and anxiety and depression are also on the rise, the articles said.
South Africa’s alarming crime rate poses another burden to the health system, the articles said, including the high incidence of homicide, domestic abuse and rape.
The violent death rate in South Africa is nearly five times the average worldwide, according to the report.
“Violence is profoundly gendered, with young men (aged 15-29 years) disproportionately engaged in violence both as victims and perpetrators,” the researchers said.
“Half the female victims of homicide are killed by their intimate male partners and the country has an especially high rate of rape of women and girls.”
Senator Sanders of Vermont talks about healthcare reform and the fallout from the economic crisis.
In the last decade, the prevalence of malaria has been escalating at an alarming rate, especially in Africa. An estimated 300 to 500 million cases each year cause 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths, more than 90% in children under 5 years of age in Africa. Malaria has been estimated to cause 2.3% of global disease and 9% of disease in Africa; it ranks third among major infectious disease threats in Africa after pneumococcal acute respiratory infections (3.5%) and tuberculosis (TB) (2.8%). Cases in Africa account for approximately 90% of malaria cases in the world. Adolescents and young adults are now dying of severe forms of the disease. Air travel has brought the threat of the disease to the doorsteps of industrialized countries, with an increasing incidence of imported cases and deaths from malaria by visitors to endemic-disease regions.
A number of factors appear to be contributing to the resurgence of malaria: 1) rapid spread of resistance of malaria parasites to chloroquine and the other quinolines; 2) frequent armed conflicts and civil unrest in many countries, forcing large populations to settle under difficult conditions, sometimes in areas of high malaria transmission; 3) migration (for reasons of agriculture, commerce, and trade) of nonimmune populations from nonmalarious and usually high to low parts of the same country where transmission is high; 4) changing rainfall patterns as well as water development projects such as dams and irrigation schemes, which create new mosquito breeding sites; 5) adverse socioeconomic conditions leading to a much reduced health budget and gross inadequacy of funds for drugs; 6) high birth rates leading to a rapid increase in the susceptible population under 5 years of age; and 7) changes in the behavior of the vectors, particularly in biting habits, from indoor to outdoor biters.